IAEA leadership race narrows to 3 as Belgian quits

By Sylvia Westall

VIENNA (Reuters) - A fraught race to succeed U.N. atomic agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei narrowed Wednesday when a Belgian nuclear executive withdrew his name, though diplomats say there is still no sign of a consensus candidate.

The governing body of the International Atomic Energy Agency has been struggling for months to agree on a new chief to tackle the spread of nuclear arms capability, with North Korea and Iran atop its list of concerns. Past votes on the IAEA's 35-nation governing board have split down rich-poor lines.

Jean-Pol Poncelet, a former Belgian deputy premier and now an executive at the French nuclear group Areva, finished last, along with Slovenia's Ernest Petric, among five men in a June 9 straw poll. Petric pulled out Tuesday.

Still, Petric and many diplomats believe no one in the remaining field looks capable of securing a two-thirds majority.

"Poncelet and Petric both withdrew in the same way, saying they were doing so with respect to tomorrow's vote but, if it is inconclusive, they remain available as possible consensus candidates," an EU diplomat said.

At the first election in March, Japanese IAEA Ambassador Yukiya Amano fell a single vote short of the 24 needed. Amano remains favourite but his backing slid to 20 in the test poll.

Russia has told other board members that it will be "unacceptable" if Amano is elected by only the minimum winning margin, the EU diplomat said, as this would harden a North-South split undermining the next IAEA chief's authority.

Amano's main rival, South African IAEA governor Abdul Samad Minty, took 11 votes in the straw poll, while latecomer Luis Echavarri of Spain got four. Amano draws backing mainly from industrialised countries and Minty from developing states.

"I see a deadlock as the most likely (outcome). Unless Amano can pull something very big out of the hat," another EU diplomat said. "The Minty camp is in reality a 'block-Amano' camp, so I don't see them shifting."

A note from the Belgian mission said member states seemed unwilling to shift votes to other candidates to end the impasse.

Echavarri, a nuclear expert who has cast himself as a broad compromise candidate, vowed to remain in the race. "We are full of spirit, I will be there tomorrow," he said by telephone.

ElBaradei, 66, a Nobel Peace laureate in 2005, retires in November after 12 years in office.